Getting over the intermediate plateau in language learning

Summary

This video script discusses overcoming the intermediate plateau in language learning. It suggests moving beyond textbooks and engaging with native speakers to learn idiomatic expressions. The script promotes learning phrases as 'chunks' for faster progression and highlights the benefits of platforms like Lingoda, which offer immersive, small-group lessons. It also encourages consuming media in the target language actively and getting feedback on one's current level to refine skills. Lastly, it emphasizes the importance of daily practice and varying learning methods to maintain momentum and advance from intermediate to advanced proficiency.

Takeaways

• 😀 The intermediate plateau in language learning is a phase where one feels stuck after reaching a comfortable level of communication but still struggles with vocabulary and grammar.
• 📚 To overcome the plateau, learners should stop relying on textbooks and old notes and instead focus on speaking with native speakers to pick up phrasal verbs, idioms, and collocations.
• 🌐 Learning by 'chunking' or whole phrases helps intermediate learners to advance faster without worrying about word order or grammar.
• 📈 Lingoda, an online language school, offers immersive learning experiences through small group lessons and encourages the use of materials across different levels.
• 🏆 Lingoda's sprint program offers a refund incentive for completing a set number of classes, which can motivate learners to improve their language skills within a specific timeframe.
• 🎯 To move from intermediate to advanced, learners should start consuming media and content in the target language, both actively and passively.
• 🔍 Intermediate learners should actively look up words while reading in the foreign language to improve their vocabulary beyond just understanding the context.
• 🎥 Getting a current language level check through self-recorded videos or writing can help identify areas for improvement, especially with the help of native speakers.
• 📝 Learning and using synonyms can help diversify one's language use and move beyond basic vocabulary.
• 🔄 Consistent daily effort is crucial for language advancement; even during busy times, utilizing 'dead time' for language learning can be effective.
• 🛠️ Changing up language learning methods, such as trying new apps or tutors, can keep the learning process fresh and engaging.

Q & A

What is the intermediate plateau in language learning?

The intermediate plateau is a stage in language learning where a learner feels stuck after reaching a comfortable level of communication in a foreign language but still struggles with vocabulary or grammar.

Why do people often stop actively studying once they reach the intermediate plateau?

People may stop actively studying because they feel they have reached a level where they can communicate effectively, leading to a decrease in motivation to continue learning.

What is the initial progress like in the first three to six months of learning a new language?

In the first three to six months, the progress is very fast, going from knowing nothing to being able to introduce oneself, order things, and talk about personal experiences.

How can focusing on speaking to native speakers in context help overcome the intermediate plateau?

Speaking to native speakers in context helps learners pick up phrasal verbs, idioms, collocations, and other language nuances that make them sound more native.

What is the concept of 'chunking' in language learning?

Chunking is an approach to learning set phrases as whole concepts, which helps learners not worry about word order or grammar and advance faster.

How does Lingoda's teaching method support learners in moving from intermediate to advanced levels?

Lingoda teaches by chunking and provides an immersive experience through small group lessons with good teacher control and interaction, which helps learners progress from intermediate to advanced levels.

What is the Lingoda sprint and how does it work?

The Lingoda sprint is a program designed to improve language learning in three months. It offers two options: the super sprint with 30 classes a month for a 100% refund upon completion, and the sprint with 15 classes a month for a 50% refund.

What is the importance of consuming media in the target language for intermediate learners?

Consuming media in the target language helps increase fluency by providing both active and passive learning opportunities, and by exposing learners to advanced vocabulary and language structures.

Why is it recommended to get a current language level checked properly?

Getting a current language level checked helps learners identify mistakes and areas for improvement, which is crucial for advancing to the next level.

How can learning synonyms help an intermediate learner advance to an advanced level?

Learning synonyms allows learners to replace basic words with more advanced and specific terms, enhancing their vocabulary and making their language use sound more native.

What is the key to maintaining and improving language skills even when feeling comfortable at an intermediate level?

The key is to put in daily effort, using the language actively in various contexts, and seeking out new learning methods to keep the process engaging and effective.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Overcoming the Intermediate Plateau in Language Learning

This paragraph discusses the challenges faced by language learners at the intermediate level, where they can communicate but struggle with vocabulary and grammar. It explains how learners can plateau after reaching a comfortable level and stop actively studying. The speaker introduces strategies to move from intermediate to advanced, such as engaging with native speakers to learn idiomatic expressions and phrasal verbs, and thinking of words in more advanced ways. The importance of learning set phrases as 'chunks' is emphasized, which helps in faster language acquisition. The paragraph also introduces Lingoda, an online language learning platform, and its sprint program, which offers a refund incentive for completing a set number of classes.

05:02

🌟 Advancing Language Skills Through Immersion and Consistency

The second paragraph focuses on strategies to advance from intermediate to advanced language proficiency. It suggests acting like a native speaker by consuming media in the target language and using the language actively and passively. The speaker advises looking up unfamiliar words while reading to improve vocabulary and emphasizes the importance of getting a current language level assessment from a native speaker. The paragraph also touches on the concept of learning synonyms to enrich one's vocabulary and stresses the necessity of daily practice to maintain and improve language skills. The speaker shares personal experiences and offers tips on integrating language learning into daily life, such as using 'dead time' for listening to language lessons and reading professional articles in the target language.

10:03

📚 Final Thoughts and Encouragement for Language Learners

In the concluding paragraph, the speaker summarizes the video's content and invites viewers to share their own tips in the comments. They remind viewers of the Lingoda sprint program and provide a discount code for registration. The speaker thanks the audience for watching and expresses excitement for their next video, encouraging a continued journey in language learning.

Keywords

💡Intermediate Plateau

The 'Intermediate Plateau' refers to a stage in language learning where a learner has reached a comfortable level of communication but feels stuck and experiences a slowdown in their progress. In the video, it is described as a phase where learners can speak and understand basic vocabulary and grammar but struggle with more complex language constructs. The concept is central to the video's theme of overcoming stagnation in language learning.

💡Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs are a type of verb phrase in English where a verb and one or more prepositions or adverbs combine to take on a different meaning. In the context of the video, phrasal verbs are mentioned as an example of language nuances that intermediate learners need to grasp to sound more native-like. The script suggests that engaging with native speakers can help learners acquire such phrases naturally.

💡Idioms

Idioms are expressions whose meanings cannot be deduced from the literal meanings of the individual words. In the video, idioms are cited as part of the linguistic elements that intermediate learners should focus on to advance their language skills. They contribute to the richness of a language and are essential for fluency and natural communication.

💡Collocations

Collocations are combinations of words that frequently occur together in a language. The video emphasizes the importance of learning collocations in context rather than translating them directly from one's native language. For instance, the script contrasts the English collocation 'take medicine' with the Korean 'eat medicine' to illustrate the concept.

💡Chunking

Chunking, in the context of language learning, refers to the method of learning phrases as complete units rather than breaking them down into individual words. The video promotes this approach as an efficient way for intermediate learners to advance, as it allows for quicker absorption of language patterns without the need to focus on word order or grammar.

💡Lingoda

Lingoda is an online language learning school mentioned in the video. It is highlighted for its teaching method that includes chunking and offers an immersive experience for learners. The video discusses a specific program called 'the sprint,' which is a structured course with a refund incentive for completing all lessons, aiming to help learners progress rapidly from intermediate to advanced levels.

💡Synonyms

Synonyms are words that have the same or similar meanings. The video suggests that learning synonyms is a strategy for intermediate learners to enrich their vocabulary and avoid repetitive use of basic words. It recommends using synonyms to express the same idea in a more advanced or specific way, which can help in moving towards a higher level of language proficiency.

💡Native Speaker

A 'native speaker' is someone who has spoken a language from early childhood. The video encourages intermediate learners to start acting like native speakers by consuming media and content in the target language. This approach helps learners to immerse themselves in the language and understand its nuances, which is vital for advancing their skills.

💡Fluency

Fluency in language refers to the ability to speak or write smoothly and with ease. The video discusses the importance of active and passive studying to increase fluency. It emphasizes that simply understanding the gist of a text is not enough; learners must actively learn new words and phrases to improve their fluency.

💡Dead Time

In the video, 'dead time' refers to periods of the day that are often unutilized, such as commuting time. The speaker suggests using this time for language learning activities, like listening to teaching podcasts, as a way to make consistent daily progress in language acquisition.

💡Language Meetups

Language meetups are social gatherings where people interested in a particular language come together to practice and learn. The video suggests exploring such meetups as a way to diversify language learning methods, which can make the learning process more enjoyable and potentially accelerate the transition from intermediate to advanced levels.

Highlights

Discussing the intermediate plateau in language learning where progress feels slow after reaching a comfortable level of communication.

Advice to stop focusing on textbooks and old notes, and instead, engage with native speakers to improve language skills.

Emphasizing the importance of learning phrasal verbs, idioms, and collocations to sound more native.

Introducing the concept of 'collocations' and how they differ between languages, using English and Korean examples.

Mentioning the Hangukdrama blog by Shanna, which discusses learning collocations in context rather than direct translation.

Explaining the Korean collocation 'to stop time' and the importance of learning phrases as set concepts.

Introducing the method of 'chunking' for learning phrases in their entirety to improve language fluency.

Recommending Lingoda as an online language learning platform that uses the chunking method.

Details on Lingoda's sprint program, which offers a refund incentive for completing a set number of classes.

Encouraging learners to consume media and content in the target language to advance their skills.

Suggesting active and passive study techniques to enhance language learning.

Advising to get a current language level checked by recording and reviewing spoken language with native speakers.

Discussing the strategy of learning synonyms to replace overused basic words and improve vocabulary.

Stressing the necessity of daily effort in language learning to maintain and improve fluency.

Sharing personal tips on integrating language learning into daily life, such as using 'dead time' effectively.

Warning against the complacency of reaching a comfortable language level without continued practice.

Encouraging the use of different language learning methods and resources to keep the process engaging and effective.

Transcripts

Hi friends, welcome back! Today we're talking about reaching

the intermediate plateau

and what to do when you feel stuck when you are learning a language.

So, intermediate is where you are at a level

comfortable enough to communicate in a foreign language

but sometimes still struggle with a bit of vocabulary or grammar.

And the thing with the intermediate plateau is people are like

"okay, I've reached a comfortable level where I can speak, I can communicate"

and then you kind of stop studying very actively

and you just kind of "plateau".

In your first like three to six months of learning a language,

it's completely new, so you're literally going from knowing nothing

to being able to at least introduce yourself,

order things, talk about yourself.

That is super, super fast progress.

Once you have all that base,

learning to speak about a bit more complex topics

takes a lot of time and you feel like your progress is very slow.

Now that we know what the intermediate plateau is,

let's look at a few ways to combat it and move from

intermediate to advanced.

Number one: stop focusing on what is in textbooks,

stop rereading your old notes,

and focus more on speaking to native speakers in context

so that you can pick up stuff like

phrasal verbs, idioms, collocations,

those kinds of things that will make you sound a lot more native.

And try to think of how you can say

a word in a more advanced, different way.

Collocations, for example, are words that go together.

So in English we say you "take medicine"

whereas in Korean you "eat medicine".

There's a Korean...

Oh, a bird! Oh, my Gosh! :0

There's a Korean language learning blog

called Hangukdrama. It's actually run by a girl in Singapore called Shanna.

And she wrote something about collocations in Korean

and I agree with her in that

how we learn it is we don't try and equate it to our native language

but we just learn it in the context of Korean.

So what I mean, for example, is

the collocation "stop time".

In Korean there are many words to say "stop".

It could be 멈추다, 그만하다, 그만두다, 끝나다,

그만 뒀습니다... [sorry everyone, I don't know a single word in Korean]

So, for example, to say the collocation "to stop time" in Korean is 시간을 멈추다.

멈추다 is only used in this context with time.

You can't say [???]

And how both Shanna and I are learning Korean is that we don't equate it to English.

So I don't look up the word "stop"

and then I don't look up "time" and I put it together.

I learn it as a set phrase. So now I know to say "to stop time" is 시간을 멈추다.

On the topic of learning phrases in their entirety,

is the concept of learning by chunking.

There's a Japanese instagrammer and I think he has a YouTube channel called "Japanese by chunking"

and I think this approach is absolutely wonderful

because you are learning a set phrase

and you will not need to worry about the word order or the grammar

because you just learn the phrase as a whole concept.

So what is a good thing for intermediate learners trying to move to advanced is to

not try and break down every single word but to learn set phrases so you can advance faster.

This part of the video is also sponsored by Lingoda, which is

an online language learning school

and I am actually learning Spanish through them.

Why I'm mentioning them here is because they also teach by chunking

and it is a really immersive experience where you can learn a language much faster.

So it helps you get from intermediate to advanced.

The group lessons are really, really small

and the teacher really takes good control of the lesson

and allows everybody enough interaction to speak.

Something I particularly enjoyed about Lingoda is the opportunity to

explore all the materials of a certain level.

So if you are registered for maybe A1 or A2,

you can check out and download all the PDFs from the lessons there.

You can also browse which topics of the lessons you want to take

and then book it with a teacher according to your availability.

So, for me, I usually take lessons before or after work

and doesn't work out too badly with the time zones,

there's always a lesson that I'm able to take with a teacher.

Lingoda is currently running a sprint

which can help you improve your language learning

in just three months! :D

The sprints runs from the 7th January 2020 until the 5th April.

So if your language learning goals for 2020 are to pick up a new language

like English, Spanish, German, French or business English

then Lingoda is the place for you!

Okay, how does the sprint work?

Well, you can only take one class a day every day.

So for the super sprint you attend thirty classes a month for three months

and if you complete them all

you get a 100% refund of your money.

Then there's also the sprint, which is half of that

so you attend fifteen classes a month for three months

and you will get a 50% refund.

Remember registrations for the Lingoda sprint close on the 19th December.

To register, you need to pay a 49 euro deposit but I have a surprise for you!

And it is a 10 euro discount (that would be equivalent to 11 US dollars)

if you use my code SPRINT40.

The link to register for the sprint is in the description.

So if you're going to do it, please leave me a comment on which language you want to learn

and what your goals are for 2020

and how can Lingoda help you reach those goals. Check it out, try the sprint! :D

Okay, let's move on to the next tip and that is

to start acting like you are a native speaker.

So now you're comfortable enough to communicate in a language, but what is the next step?

It would be to consume media and content in your foreign language.

So if you have to maybe google something,

or look up a tutorial, or a recipe,

and you're learning Japanese, for example,

maybe do it through a Japanese search engine instead, like Yahoo.jp.

You could read books, articles, listen to the radio, the news, watch a movie,

whatever, do it in your target language.

But remember you will only increase your fluency if you're using it as both

an active and a passive studying tool.

So, passive studying is just kind of maintaining your language

maybe listening to a podcast on the bus or reading a book without really taking anything in.

The problem we, intermediate learners, have in our plateau is

we will read a book for example and be like

"okay, great! I understand it, let's move on"

But what I'm trying to suggest is if you are reading a book in a foreign language, for example,

try to look up those words because it's very easy

to just say like "okay, I get the gist of it", you understand in context.

But you're never going to improve if you don't actually

learn those specific advanced words that will really help you get to the next level.

My next tip is to get your current level checked properly.

I don't necessarily mean by taking a test

but what you can do is record a video of yourself speaking

or maybe write a blog post, or a diary entry in a language

just at your current level, don't be looking up any new words,

and maybe upload it for a native speaker to check.

So, if you're talking to a friend, generally that will be okay if you make a mistake

and you will have a lot of mistakes that are ingrained in your speech already.

So, intermediate speakers will make mistakes but it won't hinder the progress of a conversation,

people will still be able to understand you, but if you really want to advance to the next level,

you need to find someone who's willing to point out all the mistakes you make

so that you can improve it and sound a lot more fluent.

With this, also comes the idea of learning synonyms,

so you can get them with a source or just look up words online

and replace the basic words that you use a lot, so

maybe if you... Let's say you have a, like a blog or a digital journal

where you can look up words, right? So, type a diary entry there every day for maybe a week

and search, do a word search and see how many times you use a specific word, like a basic word.

So, maybe you can try doing a word search and be like "Oh,

oh my Goodness, I use this word so many times, let's look at a more advanced, specific way

to say the word in a different way!"

Now, the last tip sounds pretty simple, but you really need to apply it to get to an advanced level

and that is to put an effort every single day.

I am busy too, and a lot of you ask me "how do you get time for learning languages when you have a full time job?"

It is hard, but I try to use my dead time as much as I can.

What I mean by that is when I am like riding on the bus, I will listen to a podcast.

Now, not just any podcast where I'll just listen passively, but it will be a teaching podcast

where vocabulary is actively being taught to me.

I make sure to text my friends in foreign languages

and I try to incorporate the language into my work day.

So I am a UI UX designer or a product designer

and if I do a research on how to do a specific thing or

if I want to understand more about UI UX principals,

sometimes, if I have the time, I will look it up in another language.

There are so many resources for UI UX designers in Spanish

and what I've really been enjoying is to look up UI UX articles in Spanish instead.

And it's absolutely imperative that you put an effort every single day.

The problem I find even with myself is that I get so comfortable in a language that I think

"oh, okay! If I just kind of leave it, I will stay at that level forever"

Well, my French and my Hungarian have really deteriorated

because I got to a decent level and I thought I would stay there

and by not practising it and not using it,

what happens is you can understand it fluently, and that tricks you.

You think "okay, I'm still fluent in the language"

But when you need to try and speak and reproduce... very, very difficult.

If you think of it in a context of doing, maybe let's say,

an hour of language learning every day for a year,

you get 365 hours of learning a language.

If you just do one hour a week, like a lesson a week,

that is just 52 hours a year

and that will not help you improve.

So, just make sure to, whenever you have time to, put an effort for language learning.

So, what can help is to try and change up your language learning method.

Maybe get a new app, get a different tutor, try to explore some language meetups in your area...

Just try and change up how you generally learn languages

and that should make it more fun and hopefully get you faster from intermediate to advanced.

That's all I have for you today! If you have some tips that you want to share,

please leave them in the comments and remember to use my code

if you're going to register for the Lingoda sprint.

Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you in the next video! Bye bye! :D